Pomegranate Dark Chocolates

We got our first real snow a few nights ago with a good 6 inches suddenly appearing overnight. A giant pile of snow with headlights sat where our car was the night before, and I had to pull out the Hunters just to wade to work. I had forgotten how much of a workout wading through snow really is, and had piled on a tad too many clothes for my trip. Needless to say I showed up a wet, sweat-ball… Definitely the kind of person you’d want handling your pastries, I know…

But these dark winter days have turned my baking-related thoughts to dark decadent desserts. Dark chocolate, pomegranate, and lots of gold dust have been dancing through my mind as of late.

Also fire places, hot chocolate, sweaters, and good books… It’s just that kind of weather folks!

I-wish-I-didn’t-have-any-place-to-go-so-let-it-snow kind of weather!

And it was exactly these dark, decadent thoughts that inspired these pomegranate dark chocolates. The best part: these sinfully scrumptious little pieces of chocolaty heaven COULD NOT be any easier to make. Seriously. SO easy. Like 10 minutes later, TA DA, chocolates!

Separate out the seeds from your pomegranate. This is easiest done by cutting your pomegranate in half, submerging it in a bowl of water, and bending and thumbing the seeds until they work their way out. Separate the seeds from any left over skin, and pat them dry on a paper towel.

In order to get a shiny, crisp chocolate, we're going to temper it. In a bowl over a pot of bowling water, break up and melt 3 bars of chocolate. Break up the remaining bar of chocolate in a separate bowl. Once the three bars have melted, continue stirring and heating until a candy thermometer registers 118F/48C. Remove the melted chocolate from the pot of boiling water and stir in the last bar of chocolate. Stir until the chocolate cools to 90F/32C.

Fill your chocolate mold about ⅓ full with pomegranate seeds and cover with the tempered chocolate. Use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate evenly, fill in any gaps, and remove any excess.

Allow the chocolates to harden completely before removing them from the mold. Dust with gold powdered food coloring for a little extra flare.

Great minds think a like! And I’m pretty sure adding gold food coloring to desserts has become my new thing. I was making a cake the other night, and I was standing there thinking, “You know what this needs? Gold food coloring!” I may have created a monster here… 😉